Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 in B minor ('Pathétique') - Classic FM Become a VIP Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 in B minor ('Pathétique') Tchaikovsky 's greatest symphony and, possibly, his greatest work. The 'Pathétique' is one of the defining sounds of the romantic period, but the story behind it is just as intriguing. Was it due to cholera-infected water? Could it have been suicide? Or was it, quite simply, the result of a broken heart? All sorts of theories, both credible and anything but, have been espoused when it comes to the reason for Tchaikovsky ’s death in November 1893. The premiere of his Symphony No. 6 took place in October 1893, just over a week before the composer’s death. Of all Tchaikovsky’s works, this is arguably the one that spans both extremes of the emotional spectrum to the greatest extent. One moment you’re enjoying a graceful dance; the next, sombre moods dominate. The symphony’s nickname, 'Pathétique', was added by Tchaikovsky’s brother, with the blessing of the composer.

It suggests pathos in the music – something that is undoubtedly there in spades, but not at the expense of a lightness of touch and, at times, a sense of frivolity. In those moments, at least, the music seems far from autobiographical: if Tchaikovsky was struggling with suicidal thoughts, they’re by no means evident throughout. Tchaikovsky was more than satisfied with this four-movement symphony – but, as was so often and so cruelly the case, the critical reception it received was decidedly muted. Described by some as his farewell to life, in reality we shall never know exactly what inspired the work. What we can be sure of, though, is that it lives on as one of the composer’s most adored creations. Illustration: Mark Millington San Francisco Symphony - TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Opus 74, Pathétique San Francisco Symphony Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Opus 74, Pathétique PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY BORN: April 25 (old style)/May 7 (new style), 1840.

Votkinsk, in the district of Viatka, Russia, some 700 miles east-northeast of Moscow DIED: October 25/November 6, 1893. Saint Petersburg COMPOSED: Begun in February 1893, completed August 1893. The symphony is dedicated to Tchaikovsky’s nephew Vladimir (Bob) Davidov WORLD PREMIERE: October 28, 1893. Tchaikovsky conducted the first performance nine days before his death, at the Hall of Nobles, Saint Petersburg FIRST US PERFORMANCE: March 16, 1894. Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York FIRST SFS PERFORMANCE: December 8, 1911 — the first concert ever presented by the San Francisco Symphony. Henry Hadley conducted MOST RECENT SFS PERFORMANCE: April 2014.

James Conlon conducted INSTRUMENTATION: 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam [ad lib], and strings PERFORMANCE TIME: About 46 minutes At its premiere, the Pathétique was not received with contemptuous silence, like the First Piano Concerto by Tchaikovsky’s detested Brahms, nor did it elicit anything like a Sacre-sized scandale; rather, the occasion was that always depressing event, a succès d’estime. Tchaikovsky put it this way in a letter to his publisher, Piotr Jürgenson: “It is very strange about this symphony. It was not exactly a failure, but it was received with some hesitation. We can only guess at the reasons.

It is nearly impossible now to imagine encountering the Pathétique for the first time and as a new piece, but if we can make that leap we might see how an Adagio finale with a pppp close on cellos and basses alone could have been puzzling and somehow “unfinal.” Another factor would have been a weakness in the presentation. Tchaikovsky, though he lacked a performer’s temperament, had become an efficient conductor by the end of his life; he was, however, always affected by an orchestra’s mood, and the Saint Petersburg players’ initial coolness to the new score depressed him and sapped his enthusiasm for the task. At the second performance, which was under the baton of the excellent Eduard Nápravník, the Pathétique made a powerful impression. Between the two first performances of the Pathétique there was a difference beyond Nápravník’s commanding presence on the podium. Tchaikovsky had died twelve days before, and that was something the audience could not stop thinking about as they bathed in what the English writer Martin Cooper called the “voluptuous gloom” of this all but posthumous symphony.

Black drapery and a bust modeled after Tchaikovsky’s death mask heightened the atmosphere. Tchaikovsky had died of cholera. There was an epidemic in Saint Petersburg, or at least a scare, and he had drunk a glass of unboiled water, fallen ill, and died four days later. There is little concord in the various accounts of when and where Tchaikovsky made that fatal mistake. In 1979, a Russian émigré musicologist, Alexandra Orlova, published an article in the English journal Music and Letters, claiming that Tchaikovsky had committed suicide by poison on order from a “court of honor” consisting of several of his fellow alumni of the School of Jurisprudence, where the composer had studied in the 1850s. They supposedly feared disgrace to their alma mater, anticipating the disclosure of a liaison between Tchaikovsky and a young nobleman. The story gained wider circulation as Orlova published further articles, but three years later the suicide theory drew a rebuttal focusing on the shaky foundations of her account with respect to information, interpretation, and the rules of evidence.

And so we are back with that old acquaintance from so many program notes, the glass of unboiled water. At the premiere of the Pathétique, Rimsky-Korsakov asked Tchaikovsky “whether he had a program for this composition. He replied that there was one, of course, but that he did not wish to announce it.” In February 1893, Tchaikovsky had written to Bob Davidov that he was working on his new symphony with such ardor that it had taken him only four days to write the sketch of the first movement and that the rest of the score was already clearly outlined in his head. The new piece, he added, would have a program, “but a program of a kind that would remain an enigma to all — let them guess, but the symphony will just be called Program Symphony (No. 6), Symphonie à Programme (No. 6), Eine Programm Symphonie (No. 6). This program is saturated with subjective feeling, and often ... while composing it in my mind, I shed many tears. ... Do not speak of this to anyone but Modest.

The day after the premiere, Tchaikovsky decided that Program Symphony was silly as long as he did not intend to divulge the program. Modest suggested Tragic, but Piotr Ilyich was not persuaded. “Suddenly the word patetichesky came into my head,” Modest writes. “I went back and — I remember as if it were yesterday — I stood in the doorway and uttered the word. ‘Excellent, Modya, bravo, patetichesky!’ and before my eyes he wrote on the score the title by which it has since been known.” But Tchaikovsky changed his mind once again. The next day, October 30, he asked his publisher — the score with patetichesky was already on the way — “to put on the title page what stands below: To Vladimir Lvovich Davidov — No. 6 — Composed by P. T.” He added, “I hope it is not too late. Jürgenson, who knew that a good title never hurt sales, ignored the request and sent the work out into the world as Symphonie pathétique.

This title, then, which had the composer convinced for twenty-four hours anyway, did not get his final blessing. It is, however, permanently glued to the symphony and merits a moment’s consideration. Patetichesky and pathétique, as well as our own “pathetic,” all come, by way of the Latin patheticus, from the Greek patheticos and ultimately from pathos, which means “suffering.” The words do not, however, carry the same weight of meaning in these several languages. In English, we most often use the word in what dictionaries still list as its secondary meaning of “distressing and inadequate,” and its familiarity in that sense colors and trivializes our response to Modest’s title. Tchaikovsky’s biographer John Warrack emphasizes that “the Russian word ... carries more feeling of ‘passionate’ and ‘emotional’ in it than the English ‘pathetic,’ and perhaps an overtone, which has largely vanished from our word, of ...

‘suffering.’ Tchaikovsky had begun the year 1893 in some depression over the reception of The Nutcracker and his one-act opera Iolanthe, produced as a double bill at the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg in December 1892. He was also disappointed because a symphony begun the previous year had refused to jell. In addition, he was still pained by the sudden end his mysterious patroness and pen pal Nadezhda von Meck had put to their relationship two years before. On the other hand, the world sent signals of success — Corresponding Membership in the French Academy and an honorary doctorate from Cambridge — and there was the sweet pleasure of reaping greater success than Saint-Saëns at a concert they shared in London. Above all, it was the not-yet Pathétique that gave him pleasure.

As always, he had moments of doubt; in August he told Bob that the orchestration failed to realize his dreams and that he expected the work to be met with “abuse or at least misunderstanding.” But even in that letter he conceded that he was “well pleased” with the symphony’s contents, and in general his correspondence for that year indicates that he was composing with confidence and delight. “I certainly regard it as easily the best — and especially the most ‘sincere’ — of all my works, and I love it as I have never before loved one of my musical offspring,” he told Bob. To the Grand Duke Constantine he wrote, “Without exaggeration, I have put my whole soul into this work.” Even during the dispiriting rehearsals, he maintained that this was “the best thing I ever composed or ever shall compose. Tchaikovsky begins with an extraordinary sound, that of a very low bassoon solo rising through the murk of double basses divided into two sections, with violas in their most sepulchral register adding their voices to the cadences. This and the beginning of the finale, which is at precisely the same tempo, are the symphony’s slowest passages.

When this Adagio emerges into quicker motion it does so, unlike at the corresponding places in the Fourth and Fifth symphonies, in order to continue the same musical thought. Tchaikovsky stirs this nervous theme to a climax and then lovingly prepares the entrance of one his most famous — and beautiful — melodies, an utterly personal transformation of one of his favorite pieces, Don José’s Flower Aria in Carmen. He wants it played “tenderly, very songfully, and elastically.” The melody is expansively presented; then it disappears, dwindling by degrees all the way down to pppppp. The development is a fierce and accelerating storm. The recapitulation is folded into the last mutterings of this tempest and, since the nervous first theme has received much attention in the development, Tchaikovsky moves directly to the great melody, richly rescored. It is a powerfully original and effective plan, to follow an almost recklessly spacious exposition with a combined, and therefore compressed, development and recapitulation. This time the dying of the great melody leads to a solemn — and taut — coda in which a brass chorale is quietly intoned over tolling scales in plucked strings.

Tchaikovsky was a wonderful waltz composer — after his slightly older contemporary in Vienna the best of his time. He had put a real waltz into his Fifth Symphony; now he includes a curious and melancholic variant of one. His Eighteen Piano Pieces, Opus 72, written in the spring of 1893, include what he calls a Valse à cinq temps, a waltz in five beats. Here he gives us another such piece, done beautifully and with haunting grace. Each 5/4 measure is made up of two beats plus three, and you could turn the movement into a normal waltz by stretching the first beat of each measure to double its length. How does this fit into the symphony’s program? Probably not at all, except insofar as it contributes another sort of tristful climate. This atmosphere, however, vanishes with the arrival of the next movement, a brilliant scherzo, full of strange flashes and thunders, that unveils itself as a fiery march. Here we become particularly aware of Tchaikovsky’s mastery at achieving astonishing variety — and volume — with a most economically constituted orchestra.

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth and Fifth symphonies are “fate” symphonies that end in triumph, the former because the artist finds salvation in embracing the simple life, the latter because he co-opts the “fate” theme and turns it into a victory march. The march in the Pathétique offers no affirmation; it does serve to set off more bitterly the lament of the finale. The second and third movements form a double intermezzo between the movements that carry the real burden of Tchaikovsky’s patetichesky program, but it is an intermezzo of immense dramatic power. (Deryck Cooke was the first to point out that the design of the Mahler Ninth is modeled on that of the Pathétique. The two gloom-pleased composers first met in January 1888 when Tchaikovsky came to Leipzig to conduct the Gewandhaus Orchestra.) A great cry pierces the echo left by the last bang of the march. A new melody — in major — sets out to console, but its repetitions become obsessive and threatening, leading to catastrophe. From its shards there rises the first, lamenting melody.

The snarling of stopped horns and a single, soft stroke on the tam-tam are the tokens of disaster, the harbingers of defeat. The music, over a dying pulse, sinks back into that dark region where it had begun and moves beyond our hearing. Small wonder that it was a bewildering experience on October 28, 1893, and one that took on only too frightening a meaning just three weeks later. — Michael Steinberg Michael Steinberg, the San Francisco Symphony’s Program Annotator from 1979 to 1999 and contributing writer to our program book until his death in 2009, was one of the nation’s pre-eminent writers on music. We are privileged to continue publishing his program notes. His books are available at the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall.

More About the Music Recordings: Valery Gergiev conducting the Kirov Orchestra (Philips) | Riccardo Muti conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra (EMI Seraphim) | Evgeny Mravinsky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon Originals) | Georg Solti conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (London Double Decker) Reading: Tchaikovsky, by David Brown, a multi-volume life-and-works (Norton) | Tchaikovsky Remembered, edited by Brown (Faber & Faber) | Tchaikovsky Through Others’ Eyes, edited by Alexander Poznansky (Indiana University Press) | Tchaikovsky, by Anthony Holden (Bantam) | The Music of Tchaikovsky, edited by Gerald Abraham (Norton) DVD: MTT and the SFS explore the composer and his world in Tchaikovsky and the Fourth Symphony, part of our Keeping Score series (SFS Media). Also available at keepingscore.org . (September 2015) Tchaikovsky, Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.

6 in D minor Pathetique - Amazon.com Music Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in D minor Pathetique Audio CD, December 11, 1992 "Please retry" Includes FREE MP3 version of this album. Provided by Amazon Digital Services LLC. Terms and Conditions . Does not apply to gift orders. Complete your purchase to save the MP3 version to your music library. See all buying options $17.29 Free Shipping for Prime Members | Fast, FREE Shipping with Amazon Prime Only 1 left in stock (more on the way). Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available. Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1 This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 6 In B Minor. Op 74 Pathetique - YouTube Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 6 In B Minor. Op 74 Pathetique Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video?

Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on May 3, 2011 Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 6 In B Minor. Op 74 Pathetique Category Standard YouTube License Music "Symphony No. 6 In B Minor "Pathétique", Op. 74: II. Allegro Con Grazia" by Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra Novisad & Ilmar Lapinsch Listen ad-free with YouTube Red Show more When autoplay is enabled, a suggested video will automatically play next. Up next Play now Mix - Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 6 In B Minor. Op 74 PathetiqueYouTube Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 1 in G minor - "Winter Daydreams" - Duration: 43:46. TheWickedNorth 97,896 views 43:46 P. I. Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 - Itzhak Perlman - Duration: 36:31.

Field Liao 3,033,964 views 36:31 Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 'Pathétique', IV. Finale- Adagio lamentoso, Andante - Duration: 10:43. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 5,157 views 10:43 Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.6 'Pathétique': description -- Classic Cat 10 External links Background The first drafts were completed in the spring of 1891. [3] However, some or all of the symphony was not pleasing to Tchaikovsky, who tore up the manuscript "in one of his frequent moods of depression and doubt over his alleged inability to create." [3] In 1892, Tchaikovsky wrote the following to his nephew: The symphony is only a work written by dint of sheer will on the part of the composer; it contains nothing that is interesting or sympathetic. It should be cast aside and forgotten. This determination on my part is admirable and irrevocable.

[4] In 1893, Tchaikovsky again mentions the work in a letter to his brother: I am now wholly occupied with the new work . . . and it is hard for me to tear myself away from it. I believe it comes into being as the best of my works. I must finish it as soon as possible, for I have to wind up a lot of affairs and I must soon go to London. I told you that I had completed a Symphony which suddenly displeased me, and I tore it up. Now I have composed a new symphony which I certainly shall not tear up. [4] The symphony was composed in a small house in Klin , which Tchaikovsky left on October 19. He arrived shortly thereafter in St. Petersburg for the first performance, "in excellent spirits". [5] However, the composer began to feel apprehension over his symphony, when, at rehearsals, the orchestra players did not exhibit any great admiration for the new work. [5] Nevertheless, the premiere was met with great appreciation. Tchaikovsky's brother Modest wrote, "There was applause and the composer was recalled, but with more enthusiasm than on previous occasions.

There was not the mighty, overpowering impression made by the work when it was conducted by Eduard Nápravník , on November 18, 1893, and later, wherever it was played." [6] Title The Russian title of the symphony, Патетическая (Patetičeskaja), means "passionate" or "emotional", not "arousing pity". Tchaikovsky considered calling it Программная (Programmnaja or "Programme Symphony") but realised that would encourage curiosity about the programme, which he did not want to reveal. According to his brother Modest , he suggested the Патетическая title, which was used in early editions of the symphony; there are conflicting accounts about whether Tchaikovsky liked the title, [7] but in any event his publisher chose to keep it and the title remained. Its French translation Pathétique is generally used in French, Spanish, English, German and other languages.

[8] Dedication and suggested programs Tchaikovsky 's " Cross "- motive , associated with the crucifixion , himself, and Tristan , first appearing in mm.1-2 of his Pathétique Symphony [9] ( help · info ) . Tchaikovsky identified with and associated the cross-motif with "star-cross'd lovers" in general, such as in Romeo and Juliet [9] . Tchaikovsky dedicated the Pathétique to Vladimir "Bob" Davydov , his nephew. [10] While the relationship was apparently never consummated, [10] Davydov was reportedly one of the great loves of Tchaikovsky's life. [11] The Pathétique has been the subject of a number of theories as to a hidden program. This goes back to the first performance of the work, when fellow composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov asked Tchaikovsky whether there was a program to the new symphony, and Tchaikovsky asserted that there was, but would not divulge it.

[12] One such program, suggested by Tchaikovsky scholar and biographer Alexander Poznansky , is that the composer intended "to retell in music the story of his life and his soul...so that his beloved nephew would be able to share and appreciate all that he himself had gone through". [13] The symphony, Poznansky adds, embodies "the anguish of unrequited love, a conflict between platonic passion and the desires of the flesh" which was a "perennial spiritual delemma reformulated by the Romantics ... the secret and proud struggle with one's own sensual appetites for the sake of the beautiful and the good". [13] An interpretation of the Pathétique "as a tragic Eros-symphony" [14] is suggested by Timothy L. Jackson, a member of the music theory faculty at the University of North Texas, in his book Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique), published by Cambridge University Press.

Jackson writes that people reportedly knew of Tchaikovsky's relationship with Davydov, but because this relationship concerned a taboo subject, the Pathétique's program could not be stated explicitly, even by the composer; this fact, Jackson asserts, did not stop Tchaikovsky from encoding the program musically into the symphony. [15] Tchaikovsky's view of his relationship with Davydov was, according to Jackson, highly negative, and the symphony's tragic ending represented "the demise of the homosexual lovers (Tchaikovsky and his nephew).... Whether the lovers are destroyed by others or others become instruments of their own deaths remains undetermined". [16] The suggestion of such a program has been controversial, with musicologist Richard Taruskin calling Jackson's assertions "spectacularly reckless" and the method of its author as that "of conspiracy theories". [17] Still another suggested program has been what Taruskin disparagingly termed "symphony as suicide note".

[18] Tchaikovsky biographer Anthony Holden elaborates that, according to this theory, Tchaikovsky realized the full extent of his feelings for Davydov as well as the unlikelihood of their physical fulfillment; he therefore "poured out his misery into this one last great symphonic work as a conscious prelude to suicide. Unable to find help among his friends, he supposedly began to drink unboiled water in the hope of contracting cholera. In this way, as with his adventure in the Moscow river in 1877, he could commit suicide without bringing the attendant stigma upon his family—perhaps even without their realizing". [19] This idea began to assert itself as early as the second performance of the symphony in Saint Petersburg, not long after the composer had died. People at that performance "listened hard for portents. As always, they found what they were looking for: a brief but conspicuous quotation from the Orthodox requiem at the stormy climax of the first movement, and of course the unconventional Adagio finale with its tense harmonies at the onset and its touching depiction of the dying of the light in conclusion".

[18] Tchaikovsky specialist David Brown suggests that the symphony deals with the power of Fate in life and death. [20] This program would not only be similar to those suggested for the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies , but also parallels a program suggested by Tchaikovsky for his unfinished Symphony in E flat . [20] That program reads, "The ultimate essence ... of the symphony is Life. First part – all impulse, passion, confidence, thirst for activity. Must be short (the finale death – result of collapse). Second part love: third disappointments; fourth ends dying away (also short)". [21] Instrumentation The symphony is scored for 3 Flutes (3rd doubling Piccolo), 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Bass Drum, Cymbals, Tam-tam (ad libitum) and Strings. A bass clarinet is sometimes used to play the bassoon solo marked pppppp in the first movement, to achieve the desired dynamic level (eg a recording by the Hungarian conductor Ferenc Fricsay).

Structure The symphony contains four movements Adagio – Allegro non troppo - Andante - Moderato Mosso - Andante - Moderato assai - Allegro vivo - Andante come prima - Andante mosso (E Minor - B Minor - D Major - B Minor - B Major) The profound melancholy which permeates this symphony appears at once in the doleful introductory measures. It begins with only the somber voice of the double basses, playing in hushed, sinister tones. Out of the depths of the orchestral cellar, a solo bassoon presents a lachrymose subject in its lowest register, to which the violas offer a mournful reply. Some of the wind instruments sound tortuous cries before the music sinks back into an awful silence. Suddenly the violins appear with the first theme of the Allegro, a nervous, fleet-footed variant of the lugubrious introductory subject, which grows increasingly agitated as it passes on to other parts of the orchestra. The brass crescendo to a fierce, driving climax, after which the distress fades away in a long diminuendo. A last soaring gesture in the violas and a slackening of the tempo set the stage for the marvelous second theme.

Here Tchaikovsky offers one of his most exquisite tunes, a passionate and thoroughly romantic melody softly introduced by the violins and cellos. The haunting eloquence of this rapturous page yields unexpectedly to a beguiling, almost sensuous mood. The flute and bassoon exchange a flirtatious scale passage over a compelling rhythm in the strings. Other instruments soon join in the coquettish refrain. But before long, the tender romantic strain reappears, richly scored and with even greater intensity than before. This time, a note of hysteria interjects as the upper strings soar over a fervent, throbbing pulse. With the passions spent, the music ebbs away in an exquisite descending passage, until the soothing voice of the clarinet tenderly croons the love song one last time over luscious chords in the strings. With a last falling scale the bass clarinet (or bassoon) rounds out the exposition in a mood of tranquil slumber. Then, without warning, the entire orchestra erupts in a palpitating shriek of fury. Thus begins the feverish development section, one of the most frenetic, even terrifying passages in all of orchestral literature.

At once the strings give frenzied treatment to the first theme, marked by violent outbursts in the brass. But the raging storm abruptly subsides, and the trombones somberly intone a theme from the traditional Russian requiem service- perhaps Tchaikovsky's own premonition of death. Once again the tension returns, surging forward with wild, demoniac energy. Just when it seems that the music must surely crack under the sheer strain, the orchestra staggers to a grinding halt, and a mighty lamentation bursts from the strings, almost unbearable in its heart-rending misery. Trombones blast forth a rigid, funereal rhythm as the swirling strings plunge to the very depths of despair. With a last despondent shudder, the bellicose tragedy dissolves into another silence. But out of the gloom, a faint stirring in the low strings paves the way for an exultant final statement of the tender love theme, in all its wondrous glory. Its final refrain resounds ecstatically, supported by brass and timpani. Now the landscape is familiar- the exquisite diminuendo, followed by the gentle recollection in the clarinet.

In the coda, pizzicato strings play soft, descending scales as the brass sound an autumnal chorale melody. The colossal movement comes to its final denouement in an atmosphere of quiet contentment. Allegro con grazia (D major - B Minor - D Major) The middle two movements provide relief from the oppressive tragedy surrounding them. The second is in the three-part form of the traditional scherzo. The cellos present an enchanting waltz tune, whose irresistible refrain inspires the woodwinds to join in the infectious dance. Tchaikovsky scores this suave melody in an undanceable five beats, which lends the music a rather charming limp. Various appealing episodes evolve a serene, whimsical atmosphere reminiscent of the composer's own ballet scores. But sobriety predominates in the trio, with a tearful, pleading melody set against sepulchral accents from the timpani. The melody becomes stretched and twisted by the awkward meter, enhancing the plaintive quality of the music. Fragments of the lilting waltz are heard before the Scherzo itself reappears, with its melody played by violins and cellos in unison.

The former elegance of style once again prevails into the coda, which features a gentle interplay of motives from the earlier sections. A solemn recollection of the poignant trio melody interrupts the calm, but the movement ends on a peaceful note. Allegro molto vivace (G major) The third movement is again upbeat. In common time, it adheres to much more of a standard form than the rest of the work. The movement revolves around two themes, a nervous, jittery motif in the woodwinds and a majestic march originating in the woodwinds. As a march, it is very un-military. Its harmonic structure is based on the tonic and subdominant rather than the more common tonic and dominant . The jittery theme completely gives way to the march theme at the short development. Eventually, the orchestra launches into a full, triumphant chorus of the brass theme at the movement's end, often leading the audience to believe that the symphony is over. A video of a performance by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra clearly shows the audience applauding at the end of this movement; there have been similar audience reactions at other performances due to the spectacular coda .

Finale: Adagio lamentoso (B minor - D major - B minor) The final movement immediately returns to the darkness of the first with its brooding tone and slow tempo in 3/4 time. The opening is scored unusually, the first and second violins taking turns to play the notes of the main "desperation" theme, meaning neither actually plays the melody as heard, and the same is done with the other parts. During the second "consolatory" theme, in its relative major, a slow crescendo builds up to a fortissimo of strings accompanying the brass and drums. The main theme is built upon, switching to its tonic minor; after much development, the movement, without ever quickening, again climaxes with a fff drumroll, brass knell, and resurgence of the first theme, which then decrescendos. The tam-tam comes in softly, its only note played within the entire symphony, and a funeral-like chorale of the trombones and tuba is heard. The second theme, now in its tonic minor, reemerges and then meanders off into a quiet ending.

[22] Cello Concerto Among the sketches for the "Pathétique" were found sketches of a projected Cello Concerto . It was debated whether or not the sketches were to belong to the finale of the symphony or a completely different work. After much discussion, experts agreed that the sketches belonged to the Cello Concerto. In popular culture The second theme of the first movement formed the basis of a popular song in the 1940s, "(This is) The Story of a Starry Night" (by Mann Curtis , Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston ) which was popularized by Glenn Miller . This same theme is the music behind "Where," a 1959 hit for Tony Williams and the Platters as well as "In Time," by Steve Lawrence in 1961. All three of these songs have completely different lyrics. Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony has proved a popular choice with filmmakers, with extracts featuring in (amongst others) Now, Voyager , the 1997 version of Anna Karenina , Minority Report , Sweet Bird of Youth , Soylent Green and The Aviator .

Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony has also been featured during the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony , being danced by Russia 's national ballet team. Notes ^ a b Brown, Final Years, 445. ^ David Brown, Final Years, 388. ^ According to Karlinsky, it is an elegy for one or more of Tchaikovsky's deceased lovers. Bibliography Bagar, Robert, "Peter Ilyitch Tchaikowsky", The Concert Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to Symphonic Music (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1947). Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Final Years (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992). ISBN 0-393-03099-7 . Cross, Milton and Ewen, David, "Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky", in Vol. II of Milton Cross' Encyclopedia of Great Composers and Their Music (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1962).

Holden, Anthony, Tchaikovsky: A Biography (New York: Random House, 1995). ISBN 0-679-42006-1 . Jackson, Timothy L., Tchaikovsky, Symphony no. 6 (Pathétique) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). ISBN 0-521-64676-6 . Keller, Hans , "Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky", in Vol. I of The Symphony, ed. Robert Simpson (Harmondsworth, 1966). Poznansky, Alexander Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the Inner Man (New York: Schirmer Books, 1991). ISBN 0-02-871885-2 . Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai, Letoppis Moyey Muzykalnoy Zhizni (St. Petersburg, 1909), published in English as My Musical Life (New York: Knopf, 1925, 3rd ed. 1942). ISBN n/a.

Steinberg, Michael , The Symphony (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1995). ISBN 0-19-512665-3 (paperback) Taruskin, Richard, On Russian Music (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2009). ISBN 0-520-24979-0 . External links

Question: What is the name of Tchaikovsky's symphony No. 6 in B minor?
Answer: PATHETIQUE